The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Coreopsis plant, botanically of hybrid origin and known as Coreopsis ‘Cherry Blast’ and will be referred to hereinafter by its cultivar name, ‘Cherry Blast’. The new cultivar of Coreopsis is an herbaceous perennial grown for landscape and container use.
The new Invention arose from an ongoing controlled breeding program in New Braintree, Mass. The objective of the breeding program is to develop hybrid cultivars of Coreopsis with unique and superior garden attributes. In particular, to develop cultivars that are long-lived, sturdy, exhibit a true perennial habit and cold hardy to at least U.S.D.A. Zone 5 in a wide range of flower colors and plant forms that do not require vernalization to intiate flowering.
The Inventor made a controlled cross in August of 2013 in New Braintree, Mass. between an unnamed and unpatented proprietary plant from his breeding program as the female parent and pollen that was pooled from a variety of unnamed and unpatented proprietary plants from his breeding program as the male parent. The exact characteristics of the pollen parent are therefore unknown. ‘Cherry Blast’ was selected in September of 2014 as a single unique plant amongst the resulting seedlings.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by stem cuttings under the direction of the Inventor in Kensington, Conn. in September of 2014. Asexual propagation by stem cutting has shown that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.